Brad Stuart's crushing hit on Gabriel Landeskog could've been dirtier—but that doesn't make it clean.

Stuart, a San Jose Sharks defenseman, clocked Landeskog near the boards Saturday afternoon, driving his shoulder into the face of the Avalanche captain. Landeskog had his head down, which didn't help, and immediately skated off the ice.

Within seconds, teammate Ryan O'Byrne skated down the ice and jumped Stuart, picking up a 10-minute misconduct for instigating, a five-minute major and minors for misconduct and wearing a visor during a fight. San Jose's Patrick Marleau promptly scored two power-play goals, giving San Jose a 2-0 lead heading into intermission. Marleau now has multiple goals in all four games he's played this season.

Two things to watch coming out of this: Landeskog's health, as he clearly was wobbly after the hit, and the reaction to the legality (or lack thereof) of Stuart's hit. It wasn't overly late, he didn't leave his feet and Landeskog had his head down, but Stuart appeared to make Landeskog's head the principle point of contact, which is illegal—no matter what CSN Bay Area's announcers say.